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Book Reviewer for Moody Publishers and Tyndale

Question 27: Are there apostles/prophets today?

***DISCLAIMER***The following is far from an exhaustive answer to the question. It is simply an answer nonetheless.

Recently, someone asked me a question regarding apostles and prophets. What follows is the question followed by my response.

THE QUESTION

I have a question about some pastors who call themselves apostles / prophets today. I trusted a sister in Christ and was invited to her Church. During the service, that Pastor, Patrick A. Williams, was preaching about the Holy Spirit. He only reminded of Jesus two times in a service that was over three hours long. I was not really careful and I naively trusted this pastor. Then, at the end of the service, he invited a few individuals to tell them what the Holy Ghost revealed to him.

I started to tremble.

He then invited me and told me, “This message is from God himself. Since you sacrificed your parents to your belief, you deserve a gift. You will be called on next Thursday at 12:01.”

I was shocked. On one hand, I was happy, but after one day thinking this over, I realized this is just a deception from the wicked himself. Our Lord would never attract us with money / business things and I felt so sad for the believers who attended so many of these sessions, realizing truly 99% of the truth is not the Truth. What do you think?

THE RESPONSE

Greetings,

Those who call themselves apostles and prophets today are not really apostles and prophets. After all, an apostle must meet specific criteria. One of those criteria involves being an eyewitness to Jesus Christ’s resurrection (1 Corinthians 9:1). Given that Jesus’ resurrection happened over 2,000 years ago, it is pure insanity to believe that those who claim to be apostles today are indeed apostles. After all, how could they have seen the physical resurrection when they were not even alive over 2,000 years ago?

As for prophets, the criteria are not as strict as that of an apostle. However, one must definitely compare whatever this alleged prophet states to what the Bible says. 1 John 4:1 states that we are not to believe all the spirits, but test them. 1 Thessalonians 5:21 states to examine everything carefully, holding fast to that which is good. If someone claims to have a word from the LORD, it better be in 100% alignment with what the Bible says. If it does not align (even in the slightest), then that alleged prophet must not be trusted, for he/she is a false one.

The best passage that addresses this “apostles/prophets” topic is found in Ephesians 2:13-22 (NASB):

But now inChrist Jesus you whoformerly werefar offhavebeen brought nearby the blood of Christ.14 For He Himself isour peace,who made bothgroups intoone and broke down thebarrier of the dividing wall,15 byabolishing in His flesh the enmity,which isthe Law of commandmentscontainedin ordinances, so that in Himself He mightmake the two intoone new man,thusestablishingpeace,16 and mightreconcile them both inone body to God through the cross,by it havingput to death the enmity.17 AndHe came and preachedpeace to you who werefar away, and peace to those who werenear;18 for through Him we both haveour access inone Spirit tothe Father.19 So then you are no longerstrangers and aliens, but you arefellow citizens with thesaints, and are ofGod’s household,20 having beenbuilt onthe foundation ofthe apostles and prophets,Christ Jesus Himself being thecornerstone,21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing intoa holytemple in the Lord,22 in whom you also are beingbuilt together into adwelling of God in the Spirit.

The Apostle Paul speaks of Christ much in this passage. When he gets to verse 20, he notes how God’s household was built “on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.” Like Christ’s resurrection, this foundation was built some 2,000 years ago. Furthermore, notice that the part of verse twenty about the apostles and prophets is in the past tense. The foundation has already been built. Therefore, there is no need to lay that foundation a second time. Furthermore, this refutes the nonsensical idea that God is restoring the office of apostle and prophet today.

If you are at a church that believes in the restoration of the office of apostles and prophets today, you need to flee from that church and find one that places much emphasis on sound doctrine. Furthermore, if someone approaches you with an alleged word from the LORD, you should ask that person what chapter and verse of Scripture he/she will be sharing. If anything he/she shares is in contradiction with what God’s Word says, then that person did not really have a word from the LORD. Instead, that word either came from his/her own intellect or the demonic. Finally, he/she would need to repent of his/her false teaching.

I am a sinner saved by grace who was once deceived by false teaching. This blog aims to compare the latest and greatest in the Christian world (as well as blatantly false religions that are far from Christian) to God's Word, which is our ultimate authority and the one book outlining the ONE way by which mankind may be saved (2 Timothy 3:16-17; Numbers 23:19; Proverbs 14:21; John 6:47; 14:6; Acts 4:12). I also write book reviews, answers to common questions, and other articles I hope you find useful.
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